Village Arts orchestras and choir to perform Pops Culture Concert

April 23, 2012

The Village Arts orchestras and choir will perform their annual Pops Culture concert on Sunday, April 29 at 3:00 PM in the Tilman Hovland Auditorium at Rugby High School.

Each spring for the past decade, exemplary graduating senior musicians play solos accompanied by the orchestra.

" Not only do we want to recognize the talent of these students, we also want to provide them with the opportunity to play with an orchestra," said Deb Jenkins, program director. "That opportunity is usually reserved for students who live in large cities and compete for a spot with a civic or professional orchestra. So, very few students have that kind of chance, but it is considered a huge honor by college music departments and can open doors for students who want to play in college."

This year's soloists are McKenzie Cameron, playing a Mozart flute concerto with the symphony orchestra and Elisabeth Ostrem playing the fiddle tune, "Blackberry Blossom" with the string orchestra. Both will graduate this spring and have played with the orchestras since junior high school. Ostrem began playing in the youth orchestra and now, in addition to playing in the Heartland Civic strings and symphony orchestras, acts as a mentor for the Heart Strings youth orchestra.

Village Arts' local orchestras and choir were featured in Horizons magazine this past year. Jenkins said that the magazine had heard about the unusual community music program and asked for more information. She had not expected the feature article that appeared in their winter issue.

"I opened the magazine, and my mouth dropped open," said Jenkins. "There was a photo of Tilman Hovland conducting and it was nearly half a page in size! Coverage of the program was pretty extensive in the article, due to a lot of interest in Rugby as the smallest city in North Dakota with an orchestra and choir program. "

Village Arts sponsors the Heart Strings youth orchestra as well as the Heartland Civic strings and symphony orchestra and Heartland Civic choir. Conductors are Daryl Wissink, choir; Tilman Hovland, symphony orchestra and Deb Jenkins, youth and strings orchestra. Approximately 70 local musicians play or sing in the performing groups. Fiddle music, pops tunes as well as popular classics appear on this spring concert's program.

Concessions will be served by Rugby's Destination Imagination teams. Tickets to the event are available at the door.